382 SCIENTIFIC AND APPLIED PHARMACOGNOSY 



terpenes. The acidity of old oil is due to free acetic, myrrholic and 

 commiphorinic acids. 



Adulterants. Myrrh is frequently admixed with gums and other 

 gum-resins, including several kinds of Bdellium, which are obtained 

 from various species of Commiphora, and which are characterized 

 by not giving a purplish color with nitric acid. Of these the follow- 

 ing may be mentioned : African bdellium, which occurs in yellowish- 

 brown masses, that are reddish in transmitted light and have a 

 pepper-like odor and bitter taste; Indian bdellium, occurring in 

 irregular, reddish-brown masses, covered with minute spicules of 

 resin, and having a terebinthinate odor and an acrid taste; and 

 opaque bdellium, which occurs in yellowish, hard, opaque masses, 

 with a faint odor and bitter taste, and the alcoholic solution of which 

 is colored black with solutions of ferric chloride. Thin pieces of a 

 bark are frequently present in opaque bdellium. 



Bisabol, or East Indian myrrh, is exported from eastern Africa 

 and Asia; it closely resembles true myrrh, but is distinguished from 

 it by the ethereal solution not becoming reddish with bromin vapor. 

 Furthermore, on mixing 6 drops of a petroleum ether solution (one 

 part of myrrh to 15 of ether) with 3 c.c. of glacial acetic acid and then 

 adding this liquid carefully to 3 c.c. of concentrated sulphuric acid, 

 a rose-colored zone is at first developed, and finally the entire acetic 

 acid solution assumes the same color. With genuine myrrh the solu- 

 tion is colored a very pale rose color. 



Allied Plants. Opopanax is a balsam-like product obtained from 

 Commiphora Kataf, a plant indigenous to Arabia, and is supposed 

 to be the Myrrh mentioned in the Bible. It yields from 6 to 10 per 

 cent of a greenish-yellow volatile oil with a pleasant balsamic odor; 

 and also contains opo-resinotannol (a compound not yielding umbelli- 

 feron on distillation) both free and combined with ferulaic acid; free 

 ferulaic acid; vanillin, and a gum containing bassorin. 



Mulu Kilavary is a gummy exudation obtained from Commiphora 

 Berryi, a plant growing in India. It occurs in yellowish-brown or 

 dark-brown translucent fragments, having a conchoidal, oily frac- 

 ture, and consists chiefly of gum, with a small quantity of a tasteless 

 resin and a volatile oil. 



MELIACE.E, OR MAHOGANY FAMILY 



A family of tropical and sub-tropical trees and shrubs, having 

 mostly alternate and compound leaves and axillary clusters or 

 racemes of flowers. The family is especially known for its yielding 



